The junior varsity Lady Vikings started out with only 13 young women this year, but ended their season with eight wins and only four losses. In basketball, this is heartening and bodes well for the future of the Orcas varsity basketball program.

Lisa Gage, head coach of the Lady Vikings junior varsity basketball team, commented, “We had seven freshmen, one senior, and then five of them were returning players who were sophomores and juniors; I recall that one of the freshmen discontinued because of grade issues, so we had twelve players total but six of those were untrained freshmen. They still did really well and turned in an 8/4 season overall. These girls, half of them, didn’t even know fundamentals but I taught them basics and they caught on fast. The returning players stepped it up and were very solid but the freshmen as well played a strong part.”

During away games, Gage could only take 10 players total, so she always took nine and left three behind. She was conscientious about rotating the players who were left. Two varsity players came along on these games to maintain statistics, assist with morale, and help with team management.

“These girls are good learners and they worked hard all season,” said Gage. “We had more wins than losses and I feel good about the season. I really stressed defensive playing with the team. We did not play high scoring games. Usually the point range was between 20-30 points per game. It’s hard to teach offensive plays when you are just learning how to play. So I emphasized defense over offense. We needed to work on lay ups and free throwing, as we were not as consistent with those things, but the girls ran a great deal and had a lot of fun. Ashley Janson and Mackie Taylor really stepped up to the plate to support the team. All of the returning players really supported the freshmen and that was a relief to see.

“To help us along, we also played in two tournaments, but there was a shortage of JV teams and so instead of playing a normal 16 game schedule, we played 12 games and two tournaments. We start practicing the second week of November and conclude the second week of February. I am looking forward to the next crop of 8th graders.”